Susan Blonshine, RRT, RPFT, AE-C, FAARC
President/CEO
TechEd Consultants, Inc.

Tell me about your professional background.

I started my career at Ingham Regional Medical Center, formerly Michigan Capital Medical Center. I worked in, and eventually supervised, departments for pulmonary diagnostic testing, blood gases, sleep, and asthma education. I currently serve as the Technical Director, Pediatric Pulmonary Laboratory, Michigan State University; and I am the CEO of TechEd Consultants, Inc.

What first interested you in your line of work, and what has sustained your interest?

I was in the second class to graduate in respiratory care from Lansing Community College. Respiratory therapy was a new, young profession that I thought would offer opportunity and growth. What first started out as a profession where you would work in a hospital has grown into a profession where you can work in all areas of health care. My passion comes back to education, both from a patient standpoint and a professional standpoint.

Tell me about your involvement in professional societies outside of CLSI.

My involvement in professional organizations other than CLSI includes the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), where I serve on their Clinical Guidelines Task Force, act as a liaison to CLSI, review manuscripts for Respiratory Care, and am a representative to ISO/TC 212. In addition, I am active within the European Respiratory Society, American Thoracic Society, and National Board for Respiratory Care. I am also active within state and local committees including my current roles on the Michigan Asthma Advisory Committee, Mid-Michigan Asthma Coalition, and the State of Michigan Asthma Mortality Review Board.

Can you describe a bit about the work you do with TechEd Consultants, Inc.?

We started TechEd Consultants, Inc. 10 years ago. Tech Ed’s mission is to provide services that improve disease management strategies through education, testing, research, and development in a quality, cost-effective environment. We provide technical expertise in the area of cardiopulmonary diagnostics, quality systems, and asthma. I do a significant amount of worldwide education to integrate diagnostics with disease management strategies. We are also very active in clinical research. We monitor the quality of the testing, as well as evaluate the quality control for sites that we are managing. All of our services may be provided in multiple settings including government, industry, and health care. In addition, we develop educational products to support training and competence assessment.

How long have you been involved in the CLSI consensus development process?

This is my eighth year on the CLSI Board of Directors. Prior to my role on the Board of Directors, I served as Chairholder, Area Committee for Healthcare Services, as well as participated in the development of numerous CLSI documents. I was a member of the Subcommittees on Practical Blood Gas Quality Control, “A Model” for Building Quality Systems in Healthcare, and Pulse Oximeters and Other Noninvasive Methods; Chairholder of working groups on the revision of Arterial Blood Collection, and Application of the Quality System Model for Respiratory Care; and  observer for the pH and Blood Gas document.

As a member of the CLSI Board of Directors, can you highlight any issues or important topics in which you are particularly passionate about seeing implemented at CLSI?

The topics I am passionate about are education, quality systems, and the equal involvement of all health care disciplines to improve the delivery of services and safety for patients.

What continues to drive you to stay involved in CLSI?

My desire to develop standards and watch CLSI move forward in terms of implementation of quality systems and education keeps me motivated. I also enjoy all the wonderful relationships that I have made with the dedicated group of professionals who participate in CLSI. I am also driven by the fact that CLSI is the only organization that can bring together government, industry, and professions to accomplish their mission extraordinarily well.

Do you feel CLSI documents are helpful resources for professionals in your field in day-to-day practice?

Yes, CLSI documents are extremely important for respiratory and pulmonary professionals. I use the documents extensively in my consulting work. For example, we use CLSI documents as the basis for developing quality systems in pulmonary function laboratories, as well as in clinical research trials. It all comes back to education and quality. CLSI documents lay out a very good roadmap for how to develop systems from a basic understanding of the components of a quality system to how you go about implementing those components one at a time. In my education and teaching work, I always use the path of workflow to drive the process.

Do you feel that respiratory professionals are aware of CLSI documents and are using them?

The documents are heavily used in pulmonary function laboratories. CLSI document Laboratory Documents: Development and Control; Approved Guideline—Fifth Edition (GP2-A5) provides the basis for the ATS Management and Procedure Manual for Pulmonary Function Laboratories. It includes blood gases, as well. I also take the CLSI documents with me when I travel globally. We have referenced them in an extensive array of industry publications and journals. We have worked really hard to expand the reach of CLSI documents to respiratory care professionals.

What role do you feel CLSI plays in education?

Education brings CLSI documents to the bench—to the people actually working with the documents. If they just sit on a shelf, all the work we do is not worthwhile. The real value is getting the documents to the point where you can implement and use them in day-to-day practice, and that only occurs through education.

Do you feel CLSI is reaching all the health care disciplines?

One example that shows what CLSI has done to reach all the health care disciplines is with the quality management system documents. CLSI has taken the language from industry, such as ISO 9001 documents, and translated it into health care terminology for the quality management systems documents. When it is so busy in the hospital, professionals tend to get reactive. Quality systems are a proactive approach that will decrease errors in hospitals. It is so amazing to see the transition over time. A few years back, people in hospitals did not even think about quality systems; now there is training and awards for quality systems in health care. CLSI’s recent product release, The Key to Quality, is an excellent resource that assists with quality management system implementation. While it is written for clinical laboratories, the workbook is essential for other areas of health care interested in implementing quality systems.

From your extensive research, writing, and consulting experience in respiratory care, what do you see as the most pertinent issues right now in your field?

From a scientific standpoint, quality control in the pulmonary diagnostics field is particularly important right now. The quality control perspective comes from the clinical laboratory. We need to apply this in the pulmonary function laboratory. We make clinical decisions based on test results that are dependent on reliable equipment function, which can be assessed through robust quality systems. 

Why is it so important for respiratory therapists to stay updated on CLSI documents?

There has been a long history of collaboration between CLSI and respiratory care professionals. The bottom line is patient care and giving patients that best care that you can give them. CLSI documents help respiratory care professionals develop policies, procedures, quality systems, and processes to improve patient care.

Do you have any recommendations you would like to see occur within CLSI, either in the area of respiratory care or within the organization in general?

CLSI must continue to be visible in professional journals and forge strong partnerships with related professional organizations. I would also like to see the education projects move forward globally. We need to make sure professionals at the bench know education is available and understand how it is going to help them. I am also extremely supportive of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) collaborative effort. I feel it is our responsibility to simplify documents and make them available in resource-limited areas. In general, we have to collaborate, work, and stay involved in the global environment, which CLSI has already done so well. It is so important, particularly from an education standpoint, for CLSI to offer worldwide learning opportunities.

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